



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



CHARLES HANSON TOWNE 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Today 

and 

Tomorrow 



By 

Charles Hanson Towne 




New York 
George H. Doran Company 



» * 






Copyright, 1916, 
By GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



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MAR 16 1916 

©CLA427281 



^ ========= 

^ To MY FRIEND 

MRS. FREDERIC J. FAULKS 
.^ (Theodosia Garrison) 



For the privilege of reprinting the poems included in 
this volume, the author thanks the editors of McClure's, 
Harper's Magazine, The Century, Everybody's, The North 
American Review, Munsey's, The Smart Set, The Book- 
man, Collier's, Lippincott's, Puck, Harper's Weekly, 
Poetry, The Designer, The Craftsman, The New York 
Sun, The New York Tribune, and the Youth's Companion. 



\ 



CONTENTS 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Beauty , 13 

*War Tidings 20 

^To My Country 22 

To William Watson 23 

On the Sinking of the Lusitania .... 25 

The Little People 27 

The Shot 30 

Silence 32 

After Hearing Tschaikowsky 33 

The Parting of the Ways 36 

A Ballad of Love in London 38 

Baboon 41 

A Woman of the Streets 44 

City Roofs 46 

The Little Street Where She Died ... 48 

Vision 50 

The Children in the Corridors .... 53 

Mysteries 57 

After 58 

Risen Indeed! 59 

Spring Nights 60 

The Lover 61 

At a The Dansant 62 

In an Old Cafe 64 

Supreme Moments 65 

[ix] 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Love Can Die 66 

On First Looking into the Manuscript of 

Endymion 67 

In a Picture-Gallery 69 

Assunta 71 

Love's Silences 74 

Old Johnny Valentine 76 

The Quarrel 79 

Art 81 

The Quiet Years 82 

To a Certain Little Boy 83 

A Song While Loving 84 

One of the Predestined 86 

Take Thou the Rose 87 

Retreat 88 

The Prison 90 

Racing with the Rain 91 

The Victors 96 



[X] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



w 



BEAUTY 

(For Nellie Flagg) 



HEN I am dead, and hidden in the ground, 

I know that after lonely days of sleep 
I shall grow weary of my dreamless ease, 
And stir the grass above me; long to lift 
My narrow roof sealed with white crocuses, 
And walk again upon the lovely earth. 
I know that I shall say to the Lord God, 
"Let me behold once more the flowery 

Spring, 
The jocund April running through the 

world,"— 
(For it will be in April when I rouse 
With all reviving things that softly stir), 
" Before I venture to the gates of heaven. 
I pine for unforgotten loveliness, 
I sicken for the beauty that I knew 
In youth and age. Let them be mine 

again ! " 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

BEAUTY (continued) 

A ND then I know that suddenly mine eyes 
Shall see the splendor of the dawn; shall 

see 
A halcyon morning shine on that same 

shore 
Where as a child I watched the pomp of 

day 
March across distant barricades of cloud, 
And storm the very ramparts of the world. 
I shall see hills emerge from the pale mist, 
Their velvet wonder crowned with caps of 

snow, 
And I shall marvel at them as of old. 
I shall see rivers winding through the 

meads. 
Long silver serpents hunting for the sea; 
And on their banks the blue forget-me-nots. 
Half hidden in the grass that covered me. 
I shall read glimmering gospels in the 

book 
Of April; deathless legends in the sun; 
Psalms that the golden season sings for- 
ever; 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

BEAUTY (continued) 

Green litanies and strangely visible prayers 
Writ and embroidered on the cloth of 

Spring. 
O, once again the antique page shall open, 
The missal crowded with a curious scroll, 
A new enchantment wrought of the old 

flowers. 
And I shall praise again the miracle 
Of beauty — beauty far too great to bear. 



T 



II 

HE face of the Beloved, who forgets? 

It grows in splendor and light when we 
are gone; 
Absent, its worth increases. Even so 
The earth takes on new wonder when we 

die. 
And we remember special sanctities, 
Subtle delights that, living, we forgot: — 
Color, and tone, and mood; some excel- 
lence 
Of almost unperceived contour; some 
Elusive loveliness, still lovelier 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

BEAUTY (continued) 

Because it is, yet is not; something lost 
Between high rapture and Love's deep de- 
spair. 
O golden sunset, gone ere we can say 
To the friend near us, " See that fringe of 

cloud, 
Those galleons of glory in the West, 
The furnace fires that burn the world's far 

rim!" 
He turns, astonished, and the dream is 

gone. 
And nevermore appears to him or me 
With just that flush of wonder, just that 

form 
Of dappled cloud. 

So I have seen a road 
In the lush Summer, heavy with the heat. 
Shadowed by boughs that wilted in the sun, 
Beyond all naming beautiful in the way 
It coiled and twisted through the country- 
side. 
One instant — and the shadows changed; 
a bird, 

[Te] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

BEAUTY (continued) 

And then another, bathed in swirls of dust; 
A wagon rolled in sight; and as I moved 
I lost the moment's rapture. 

Nothing remains 
Ever the same. The trees are laced to- 
night 
Against the sky ; tomorrow they will be 
Eager with one more leaf, and the young 

moon, 
A few hours older, will be climbing through 
The filmy texture in another light, 
And tufted smoke will be the border when 
I look once more upon the pale design. 
Nothing is quite the same. Therefore I 

know 
My brief delay upon the beautiful earth 
Is not enough. Haunted with loveliness, 
How can I fare away to other heavens. 
Missing innumerable heavens here? 
For April is the same — yet never the 

same; 
And Autumn never painted two gold leaves 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

BEAUTY (continued) 

The eye could match. White hills against 

the sky- 
Repeat their wonder through the Winter 

days, 
And yet the clouds behind them lift and 

break 
Till the heart marvels at the shifting moods 
Of cold magnificence and dignity. 
Ah! we could watch forever the phantom 

rain, 
And never see the ghostly army come 
With the same shining helmets on their 

heads. 
New songs would be in the wind though 

the wind sang 
Forever; and new anthems in the sea, 
New gestures in the waves, and various 

glints 
Upon the tumbled wheat. There is no 

hour 
When the old wonder is not strangely new. 



[i8] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



BEAUTY (continued) 

III 



^HEREFORE I know, when I have fallen 
■■* asleep, 

I shall awaken, hungry for the lost 
Intangible beauty of the glowing earth. 
And God will give me back the Spring 

again, 
That I may read new meanings in the 

flowers. 
Evoke new glory from the sudden leaf. 
And haunt the heart of April for my joy. 
I know that I have only tasted Life, 
And Life is Beauty — Beauty too great to 

bear 
In one brief pilgrimage upon the earth. 



[19] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



WAR TIDINGS 

(1914) 

TN a still, curtained room there came to me 
Rumors of strife ; tidings from oversea 
Of conflict ; the swift, flashing word that Peace 
had ceased to be. 

TN a safe city, where the steady roar 

Of traffic thundered, came a voice that bore 
News unbelievable of the wild hosts of War. 

FN a still room! In a safe city! — here 
^ Only the echo comes, but strangely clear. 
What of the actual horror, what of the actual 
tear! 

IT^OR in my shelter I shuddered when I knew 
■■■ That men accomplished desperate deeds and 

slew 
Their brothers on the battleground. Such 

things men dare to do! 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



WAR TIDINGS (continued) 

T THOUGHT of wasted harvests of gold grain, 
Lost fields of plenty, drenched in the soft 
rain — 
And I thought of a reaped harvest of unutter- 
able pain. 

T THOUGHT of the loud clashing of the 
sword. 
The sound of guns and cannon in accord; 
I thought of a king and his inexorable word. 

TN a still room, " It cannot be! " I said. 
" I will awaken and the dream be fled." 
(But I heard the weeping of widows over the 
lonely dead.) 

npHOUGH I was far away and safe and still, 
The distant sabres stabbed me. "Thus 
men kiU," 
I said. " The smoke of battle hides a cross 
upon a hill ! " 



[21] 



o 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



TO MY COUNTRY 

(1914) 

NE told me he had heard it whispered: 
"Lo! 
The hour has come when Europe, des- 
perate 
With sudden war and terrible swift hate, 
Rocks like a reed beneath the mighty blow. 
Therefore shall we, in this, her time of woe, 
Profit and prosper, since her ships of state 
Go down in darkness. Kind, thrice kind 
is Fate, 
Leaving our land secure, our grain to 
grow ! " 



A MERICA! They blaspheme and they lie 
•^ ^ Who say these are the voices of your sons ! 
In this foul night when nations sink and die, 
No thought is here save for the fallen ones 
Who, underneath the ruin of old thrones 
Suffer and bleed, and tell the world good- 
bye! 

[71] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



TO WILLIAM WATSON 

In Answer to His Sonnet, " To America, Concern- 
ing England" 

(1914) 

T>OET! In England's hour of pain and stress, 
'^ When her white face was stricken with 
dumb despair, 
We, knowing the red burden she must 
bear. 
Wept as an orphan weeps. Yea, and no less 
We wept for flowery France in her duress, 
And for brave Belgium weighed with tears 

and care; 
All lands in strife cried out for pity and 
prayer — 
The worthy sunk in war's unworthiness. 

'TpHIS is no time for venom or for blame ! — 
•*• Our peace is the white remnant left of 
God, 
And when the shattered nations need a rod 

[^3] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

TO WILLIAM WATSON (continued) 

To lift them from the ashes of the flame, 
Our strength preserved shall quicken them. 
No shame 
Shall be upon us for the path we trod ! 



[24] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



ON THE SINKING OF THE 
LUSITANIA 

1915 



T 



O 



HERE is a mad hound in the world today, 

A hideous Thing that snarls and breathes 
its breath 

Of poison, frenzy, agony and death; 
A beast, a monster that no hand can stay 
In the old patient, everlasting way. 

Now must the whole earth, sick with sor- 
row, dumb 

With new despair, crush this delirium, 
This foul Thing of destruction and dismay. 

THOU my country, be not slow to smite 
This red abomination of the world. 
In righteous wrath let banners be un- 
furled 
Proclaiming thy proud purpose, thy stern 
might. 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



ON SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA (contd.) 

Take heed, America! Thy breast is 
torn; 

Speak now in thunder for the race un- 
born. 



[26] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE LITTLE PEOPLE 

1914 

(For Edna Aug) 

npHE little, simple people are they who shall 
go down, 

Not Kings and Kaisers, Emperors, and un- 
availing Czars; 

The good, God-fearing people who never saw 
a crown — 

'Tis they who know the power of guns and 
feel the curse of Mars. 

TT is the little people who must suffer and must 
**■ weep. 

They who do the wise things, the good 
things of the earth ; 
They who till the farmlands, they who softly 
reap 
The grain and the harvest, and build fires 
upon the hearth. 



[27] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

THE LITTLE PEOPLE (continued) 

'TpHE good folk, the kind folk —'tis they who 

run toward Hell 
When Kaiser and Emperor dare to urge 

them forth ; 
Forgotten are the homely ways when sounds 

the war god's bell — 
From East and West they gather, from still 

vineyards of the North. 

"r^ROM orange-groves and wheat-fields, bar- 
ley-brake and plain. 
From business in the quiet towns, the sane 
work of the world. 
They rush at the mad call, and face the sting- 
ing rain 
Of shot and shell and cannon — for the 
King's flag is unfurled! 

'T^HE little, simple people now run a race with 
-** Death, 

They who ran wise errands for the rulers 
of the earth; 



[28] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE LITTLE PEOPLE (continued) 

They give their all, who built the world, they 
give their blood, their breath. 
And who shall blow to life again the fires 
upon the hearth? 

r\ UNREGARDFUL Kings, and ye who hold 
^^ high destinies. 

Within your misnamed mighty hands, 
how dare ye face your God 
When ye have thrown your simple people, 
people such as these. 
The good folk, the little folk, face down- 
ward on the sod? 

"pOR they are worth more than your crowns, 
-■■ more than ye know; 

They are the wise ones, and ye the fool- 
ish. . . . Stay! 
Keep them and protect them, before your 
light burns low. 
And the Lord God rebukes you on His 
awful Judgment Day! 



[29] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE SHOT 

(1915) 

T TE fired a million guns — and then ten million 
-■" "■• more; 

But we, on the other side of the world, heard 
only the echoes of War. 

"Ljr E fired a billion guns ; but faintly, faintly we 
-■^ heard; 

We thought of the fallen legions, and our 
hearts were torn and stirred. 

"DUT once, in the dead of night, in a lonely 
prison, hark! 
He fired a shot that rang, rang through the 
terrible dark — 

O ANG through the whole wide world, like a 
bell of doom and death; 
But it brought new life to a nation, though 
it hushed one v?oman's breath. 

[3^] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

THE SHOT (continued) 

/^NE shot out of all of those that have made 
the world a place 
Of terror and of tears ! — one shot, and 
God*s disgrace 

TS branded deep on his brow, and deep on his 
-*■ land as well; 
But deep in the heart of the world is branded 
one name — " Cavell ! " 



[31] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



SILENCE 

(For Ada Street) 

T NEED not shout my faith. Thrice eloquent 

Are quiet trees and the green listening sod. 

Hushed are the stars, whose power is never 

spent ; 

The hills are mute — yet how they speak 

of God! 

Norfolk, Connecticut. 



[32] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



AFTER HEARING TSCHAIKOWSKY 



w 



HAT is the meaning of such beauty pro- 
found? 

Ladders of utterance that lead the heart to 
heaven, 

All senses driven 

Up the high stairway to God's echoing halls, 

Where angels ever keep Song's festivals. 

Up, up, our souls are whirled — 

Then back again to the old groaning world. 

O rain of music suddenly that falls, 

O thrilling storm of sound. 

Now all our griefs are drowned 

In the wild flood that flows 

From the great heart of Melody where the 
Lord's trumpet blows ! 



TWEEDS we might do, 

^^ Imperishable deeds of excellence, 

If we were drenched forever in such sound. 

Here are Life's wounds immense 



[33] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

HEARING TSCHAIKOWSKY (continued) 

That we might help to heal — great wounds 

unbound, 
And bleeding over the ground. 
And the loud chords but break our heart 

with pity, 
And bid us bleed with anguish for the pain 
That lives in every lane 
In every thundering city. 



w 



ARS we might quell, 

Lift beggars out of hell. 
Fling back to God the souls to Him now 

lost. 
If on these billows of beauty we might be 

tossed 
In hours now level with ease 
And pale with dalliance too. 
We might be captains in a world forlorn. 
Not cowards whose days are torn 
With craven fear, if on such sounds as these 
Our poor crushed spirits could climb back 

again 
To mercy, and to goodness, and to men. 

[34I 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

HEARING TSCHAIKOWSKY (continued) 

TLTIGH dreams! . . . And now the harmony 
is stilled. . . . 

What is it that within me has been 
killed? . . . 

If it should be all bitterness, 

How I should bless 

This ocean, this immortal sea of sound. 

That healed me in its waves and tides pro- 
found ! 



[35] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 



T 



HIS is the sum of my distress — 
Not that I need you more, but that I need 

you less; 
That I can walk the ways of earth with 

strange forgetfulness. 



T 



H 



HIS is the bitterness I know — 
That a deep love like ours so suddenly 
should go, 
Lost, like a fragile flower, under the snow. 



OW did it die? How did it fall? 

How did this wild disaster follow Love's 

carnival? 
Is Love to last for an hour? Is that to be 

all? 



[36] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE PARTING OF THE WAYS (continued) 

'T^O have such need — and then have none! 

To have known such rapture out in the 
fiery sun, 
And then to say to each other, " It is over, 
and done ! " 



TTOW can we know it was Love? 

How can we know we tasted the sweets 
thereof? 
Yet one of us was worthy! Which of us? 
Time will prove! 



'T^IME will prove! For the years will show 
Which of us suffered, and lost — nay, won 
— and withstood the blow. . . . 
It cannot be you; and if it be I, you will 
never know! 



[37] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



A BALLAD OF LOVE IN LONDON 



T HAD heard of the grey of London, the fogs 

like a heavy shroud 
That covered the ancient city and wrapped it 

in a cloud; 
And I had read in many a book and heard from 

many a tongue 
Of the long relentless London rain, whose song 

is never sung — 

Grey days, sad days, days of dread and gloom, 
And nights of dark foreboding like the silent 
tomb. 

II 

OUT when I went to London, where soon or 
late one goes, 
I met an English maiden, with a face like an 
English rose; 

[38] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

A BALLAD OF LOVE (continued) 

Her eyes were a bit of heaven, her hair was a 

golden cloud — 
And little I knew of the long, long rain, or 

the fogs like a heavy shroud ! 

In candlelight and £relight, beyond Trafalgar 

Square, 
O London was a bright town, London was fair! 

Ill 

T HAD heard of the dripping eaves on lonely 

Winter nights, 
The mist that covered the Thames at dusk, 

and the half-extinguished lights; 
The loneliness in the heart of the world, the 

desolation there — 
But I found all joy, all love, all life, beyond 

Trafalgar Square! 

Sad town, mad town, town of tears and shame. 
But O, to me a glad town — and blessed be her 
name! 



[39] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

A BALLAD OF LOVE (continued) 

IV 

T HAD dreamed of dimness, and darkness 

everywhere ; 
For folk had said that London was anything 

but fair; 
And yet upon her withered cheek I spied a 

rose's red, 
And in her eyes a glory, and a crown upon her 

head! 

With lovelight and Brelight and candlelight, how 

fair 
Was wonderful old London beyond Trafalgar 

Square! 



[40] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



BABOON 

\ T eight o'clock in the evening, 
-^^ And at two in the afternoon 
The monster curtains open, 

The fiddles creak and croon; 
And then I bow to the people — 
A lumbering baboon. 

T WONDER why I do it? 

Why do the humans stare 
From even rows of shadow 

Behind the footlights' glare? 
Why do I go through my weary tricks 

On a table and a chair? 



T 



HEY laugh and clap and giggle, 
They never seem to tire. 

For I am quite amusing 
As I dance upon a wire. 

Or leap, at my master's signal. 
Through golden hoops of fire. 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



BABOON (continued) 



I 



CANNOT smile, like the people, 

I cannot speak at all; 
I pirouette insanely 

In the foolish carnival; 
Yet could I laugh, O, I would laugh 

When the velvet curtains fall! 



^OR I wonder why those people 

Sit in such even rows. 
And smile at my useless knowledge, 

Laugh at my mincing toes. 
And dream that they have wisdom ! 

How little a human knows! 



A 



ND why do they always gather 

In houses bright and hot, 
When they might be out in the open 

In a place I've never forgot? 
Why do they hive in a shell like this. 

And bid me share their lot? 



[42] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

BABOON (continued) 

A ND why is my life a schedule, 

Run by rote and rule? 
I was not meant for theatres, 

I was not made for school ; 
I was not meant to caper here, 

A thing of ridicule ! 



I 



WAS not meant to be the slave 
Of a man in a shiny suit. 

To bring the golden dollars in. 
To stand up and salute ; 

The good God put me in the world 
To be a happy brute! 



B 



UT at eight o'clock each evening, 
And at two in the afternoon 

The monster curtains open, 
The fiddles creak and croon; 

And I bow to the senseless people 
A sensible baboon! 



[43] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



I 



A WOMAN OF THE STREETS 

WISH I had not seen them — 

Peach bloom, pear bloom and apple blossom 
white, 
Swaying in the wind like candles in the night. 
I wish I had not seen them hanging on the 

bough — 
For I am in my city chains, city weary now. 



¥ WISH I had not seen them — 

Long, long lanes, and hawthorn rows of 
glory. 
Bright-bannered mornings with the good God's 

ancient story 
Writ in red embroidery on the far, high hills — 
I wish I had not seen them, for now their mem- 
ory kills. 



[44] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

A WOMAN OF THE STREETS (continued) 

T WISH I had not seen them — 

The ranks of scarlet poppies dancing in the 
corn 
When the world lay easy on the heart of the 

mom; 
And the shining battalions of the surging 

rain — 
I wish I had not seen them, for they bring me 
pain. 



^TpHE hard, grim stones in the grey old town, 
^ The dull days, the sad days, they weigh me 
down. 
But heavier is my soul for the lost things 

good and sweet — 
Oh, I wish I could not see them when I walk 
the iron street ! 



[45] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



CITY ROOFS 

(From the Metropolitan Tower) 

"D OOF-TOPS, roof-tops, what do you cover? 
Sad folk, bad folk, and many a glowing 
lover ; 
Wise people, simple people, children of de- 
spair — 
Roof-tops, roof-tops, hiding pain and care. 

T> OOF-TOPS, roof-tops, O what sin you're 

knowing. 
While above you in the sky the white clouds 

are blowing; 
While beneath you, agony and dolor and 

grim strife 
Fight the olden battle, the olden war of Life. 

"D OOF-TOPS, roof-tops, cover up their 
shame — 
Wretched souls, prisoned souls too piteous to 
name; 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

CITY ROOFS (continued) 

Man himself hath built you all to hide away 

the stars — 
Roof-tops, roof-tops, you hide ten million 

scars. 

T> OOF-TOPS, roof-tops, well I know you 

cover 
Many solemn tragedies, and many a lonely 

lover ; 
But ah! you hide the good that lives in the 

throbbing city — 
Patient wives, and tenderness, forgiveness, 

faith, and pity. 

T> OOF-TOPS, roof-tops, this is what I won- 
■■^ der: 

You are thick as poisonous plants, thick the 

people under; 
Yet roofless, and homeless, and shelterless 

they roam. 
The driftwood of the town who have no roof- 
top, and no home ! 



[47] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE LITTLE STREET WHERE SHE 
DIED 



I 



I 



WENT to the little street, 

The little street where she died, 
And it seemed to me as I turned the Square 

That the very pavements sighed. 

And the blinds stared, vacant-eyed, 
When I went to the little street. 

The little street where she died. 



THOUGHT of the days when she leaned 

Out of the casement there. 
And always watched for me 

As I turned from the quiet Square ; 

And the nights when I watched for the flare 
Of her lamp at the window-pane — 

A beacon through the rain. ... 



[48] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



STREET WHERE SHE DIED (cont.) 

T AST night I went to the street, 

The little street where she died, 
But I could not see, for my tears, 

The house of love denied. 

The winds, like spirits, sighed. . . . 
Then a star in heaven flashed 

Over the street where she died. 



[49] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



VISION 

COMETIMES, in a crowded street I see 

The faces of those that love, and those that 
are loved. 
And in the rush of the traffic, 
The thundering sounds of the city, I pause. 
Wondering about their loves — which are 
their lives. 



T KNOW them by their eyes, and by their 

glances ; 
I know them in a way I may not name, 
And I know those that have won and those 

that have lost 
In the eternal battle of the world. 
But they that have lost have not always a sad 

countenance ; 
Sometimes their lips smile, 
As if with an old comprehension, 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

VISION (continued) 

And one might be deceived, save for the tragic 
eyes — 

The smiling, yet unsmiling eyes above the 
mouth. 

Those eyes have read in the great Book of 
Love, 

And they are changed, they are changed 
forever. 

And those lips have kissed the pages of the 
book. 

And they too are changed forever. 

Only, lips can lie — but eyes can never de- 
ceive. 



A ND those that have won — not always do 
-^^ they smile. 

Often they seem to be secretly weeping. 
As if with a joy too terrible to bear. . . . 
Strange, strange are the countenances of 
those that love. 



[51] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

VISION (continued) 

KNOW them all — brothers and sisters of 
Love. 
I know them, and they know me too. 
I can tell by their eyes — 
Their eyes that follow me with knowledge, 
With pity, with solemn understanding. 



I 



[52] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE CHILDREN IN THE 
CORRIDORS 

T HAVE seen children playing in the corridors 
-■■ of great hotels — 

Pathetic, lonely little creatures, 

Surrounded by rich velvet curtains and disin- 
terested nurses. 

Trying to play hide-and-seek quietly in the 
hushed hallways. 

Behind shining pillars, as country children play 
behind trees ; 

Or teasing the bell-boys, for lack of other 
companionship. 

As the bell-boys hurry about their duties. 

npHESE are the children that seldom see their 
-■• parents ; 

They are, sadly enough, the product of acci- 
dent, 
And their parents are indifferent to them. 

[53] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

CHILDREN IN THE CORRIDORS (cont.) 

They are tragic little beings; 

I am sorry for them with as much pity 

As one can retain who lives forever in a 

crowded metropolis. 
In the afternoons I have seen their nurses 

take them 
Out of the silent corridors of the big hotels 
Into the noisy stone corridors of the streets, 
And parade them solemnly up and down, up 

and down, 
As if they were mere wooden images instead 

of human beings. 
And always the wise little children's eyes 

follow other little children 
Who are in a like predicament, 
As if to say, if they could, " We are all one 

Masonic breed. 
And we understand one another." 



T 



HEY are led to the broader corridor of the 

Avenue, 
And toward the Park, with its pitiful spaces 

of green, 

[54I 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

CHILDREN IN THE CORRIDORS (cont.) 

Its gravel walks, and its inhospitable signs 

That warn them from the grass. They are 
always surrounded by walls ; 

There is never any real freedom, even in the 
Park, 

And the grey, great buildings, the immacu- 
late hotels, 

Are visible in the near distance, and seem to 
say, 

" You cannot escape us! Our windows are 
eyes that watch you. 

And we shall call you back soon." 

'HESE children have never learned to play; 
They have never learned the wonder of 
real companionship 

With some one who loves them. I pity them 
more than I pity 

The children of poorer people, for the chil- 
dren of poorer people are loved. 

And these are cast out because they are in 
the way. 

And given into the keeping of paid servants 

fsTl 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

CHILDREN IN THE CORRIDORS (cont.) 

Who slight them or secretly frighten them. 
They live forever in a state of semi-neglect, 
And they will grow up — God pity them ! — 
Selfish, inconsequential men and women ; 
For their characters are formed in corridors. 
And corridors are narrow, dim places. 



[56] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



MYSTERIES 

T IFE holds unmeasured sanctities, 

Immortal glories — sun, and moon, 
The quiet stars, the western skies. 
And the deep wonder of ripe June ; 



T 



HE hills, the hosts of flowers; the mood 
Of Autumn, and the rippling rain ; 

Beauty no heart has understood. 
Passion that makes no moment vain. 



I 



T is so strange — this gift of breath. 
This pageant of the earth and sea; 
Yet stranger far than Life or Death 
Is this, O Love — your need of me. 



[57] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



AFTER 



T^RENCHED, after rain, 
^^^ The lilacs tremble again 
In the cool wind, and pour 
Their fragrance round my door. 



/^RUSHED, when Love dies, 
^^ Bravely her spirit cries ; 

But through Life's empty room, 

O the perfume ! 



[58] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



H 



H 



RISEN INDEED! 

OW can I doubt that He is risen indeed, 
Since at the Spring's exultant birth 
Through His green earth 
I see the flowering of each hidden seed, 
And feel again the old immortal need? 

OW can I doubt, when through white lanes 
I pass, 

Seeing the ancient beauty on the boughs 

In God's great house. 
Hearing the bells at this Aprilian Mass, 
Seeing the congregation of the grass? 



H 



O W can I doubt ? Nay, let me bow my head, 
Before the wonder of the April flame. 
In tears and shame. 
Since for one instant (O black moment of 

dread!) 
I dared to think that the great Lord was 
dead! 

[59] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



SPRING NIGHTS 

QPRING nights have come again, with their 
^ old pity, 

Spring nights of simple fragrance, to the sad 
city. 

CEE how the long lanes filled with blue lights 
Wake to a strange rapture in the Spring 
nights ! 



\ LMOST I think I heard in the hushed dark, 
>own ; 
park. 



Down yonder thoroughfare, close to the 



'fT'OICES of ghostly birds, bright after rain, 
^ Singing the city's soul clean of its pain. 

CPRING nights, glad Spring nights, with their 
old pity. 
Ah! how we need them here in the sad city! 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



w 



THE LOVER 

OUND me! Yea, break my heart, if, 

breaking it 
Thou dost acquire mysterious delight. 
Torture my spirit through an aching night, 
Fill me with pain and longing exquisite. 
If at the last for me thy lamp be lit. 
And once again I hold thee in my sight. 
Gladly I suffer, being Love's eremite ; 
And if I judged thee, lo! I would acquit. 



^OR grief through thee is dearer than the bliss. 
The empty glory of acclaiming men; 

Count me thy vassal, if but once thy kiss 
Redeem thy wrath ; — then wound me. 
Love, again ! — 

For I do dread no moment more than this: 
Thy failure to afflict me. Love dies then ! 



[6i] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



AT A THE DANSANT 

XX/HEN I saw them whirling and twirling 
In the golden afternoon; 
When I heard the loud band playing 
Its reckless, shameless tune; 

"IX/HEN I saw their painted faces 
Drifting wildly by, 
I too forgot the glory 

Of the wonderful Spring sky. 



/^UTSIDE, the world was singing 
^^^ Its marvellous old song ; 

I thought of scented woodlands 
Far from this maddened throng; 



¥ THOUGHT of the great Silence 
More eloquent than sound. 
Of the music in the meadows, 
The gospel of the ground. 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



AT A THE DANSANT (continued) 

ND I thought : How can they dance here, 

In the golden afternoon, 
When the earth is wild with rapture. 

And Spring will vanish soon? 

"^HE scented air — I loathed it, 
As the dancers hurried by. . . . 
I looked through a little window 
At the stillness of the sky. 

^HEN suddenly the music 
Ended in one loud flare. . . . 

The dancers turned to their goblets — 
I turned to drink God's air. 



[63] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



o 



IN AN OLD CAFE 

NE April evening, when the stars 
Hung like pale moths within the sky, 

We loitered in an old cafe, 
And watched the moon come, you and I. 



T 



HE people passed, as in a dream ; 

The hansoms lurched against the light ; 
Blue globes were twinkling up the street, 

Heralds of the great city night. 



ND as the film of Life rolled by. 
Beggar and prince before us there, 

We thought of all Life's ecstasy. 
And all its deep despair. 

ND in our heaven we forgot 

That we were of the picture too ; 

Others, who watched our joy that night, 
Wondered, and never knew. 

[6^1 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



SUPREME MOMENTS 

The highest moments are touched with tears 
Through our brief years, 

WE weep at birth ; 
We weep — if it be Love indeed that 

wakes — 
When first Love takes 
Our hearts and souls and shows us a new 

heaven 
And a new earth. 
We weep when friends forsake us; and we 

weep 
When one beloved falls quietly asleep. 

Lord God, let it be given 

That, when Death calls us down the shadowy 

years. 
For our poor passing there may be soft tears; 
Our going a moment supreme 
To one who hailed us in Life's mighty dream, 

[6l] ~ 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



LOVE CAN DIE 

O VE can die — Love can vanish, 
^ O remember this, vain heart. 
Love that can all sorrow banish. 
Love, too, can depart. 



H 



OLD Love close — fold Love surely 
In the glowing days that fly; 

Bind him with thy faith securely, 
Lest he weep — and die ! 



[66] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



ON FIRST LOOKING INTO THE 
MANUSCRIPT OF ENDYMION 

(In Mr. Morgan's Library) 

T DARED not dream that this dream could 
'■■ come true: 

That I was bending over that yellow page 
Lit with his words — our boy, our poet, our 
sage — 
And that I touched the parchment, old yet 

new, 
Whereon his fingers once had been. I grew 
Strangely afraid, as if some heritage 
Of wonder from a distant, holy age 
Had suddenly fallen on me, like soft dew. 

** A THING of beauty is a joy forever. . . ." 
-^ There 

I read his lovely line, what time I dipped 
Into that hushed and haunted manuscript 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



MANUSCRIPT OF ENDYMION (continued) 

That Love and Time have made even love- 
lier. 

Oh, I could only dream; yea, dream and 
weep. . . . 

Was it a vision? — Did I wake or sleep? 



[68] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



IN A PICTURE-GALLERY 

(A Private View) 

ARROGANT, richly at ease, 
And difficult to please, 
I saw fine women come 
To gaze on dreams like these: 

nr^HE visions of his heart 
•^ That trembled to impart 

Some fragment of his thought 
Through the strange lips of Art. 

IN silk and bright brocade, 
In green and gold arrayed, 
They came to this still room 
To see what he had made. 

HEY loitered just a bit: 
" Ah ! that is exquisite ! — 
That touch — that flash — that tone 

I'm crazy over it ! " 

" " [69] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



IN A PICTURE-GALLERY (continued) 

'T^HEY gossiped, smiled and posed; 
A grande dame frankly dozed, 
Woke with a start, moved on — 
And the great portals closed. 



I 



N that hushed room were stored 

High dreams ! . . . Their motors roared 
Without; yet once or twice each Spring 

Well, one had to be bored ! 



[70] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



T 



ASSUNTA 

HE little nun, Assunta, 

When her sisters were at prayer. 
Crept out one April morning 

Upon the convent stair. 
And listened to the robins 

That sang in God's sweet air. 



"O 



BLITHE and brave Franciscans! ' 

The little sister said, 
" I trembled when I heard you 

At daybreak on my bed. 
And longed to sing my matins 

With you, when dawn grew red. 



* *T7RAIL choristers from heaven, 

Is it a sin for me 
To listen to your music. 

Your holy ecstasy? 
Or does the good St. Francis 

Look down, and smile to see? 



[71] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



ASSUNTA (continued) 



"M 



Y sisters chant responses 

In the strange hush and gloom; 

But O, sometimes I sicken 

For the green world's wide room, 

Long for the benediction 
Of bird and bee and bloom ! 



^*TF it be sin, God pardon 

A wayward child. . . . Yet sing, 
Higher, and even higher. 

And let your voices ring. 
Mad trumpeters of April, 

Interpreters of Spring." . . . 



'HE little nun, Assunta, 
Died on an April day; 

The sisters knelt around her 
In sombre black and grey, 

Singing their Nunc Dimittis, 
Forgetting not to pray. 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

ASSUNTA (continued) 

/^UTSIDE, her friends, the robins 
^^ Sang for the wayward child ; 
Higher, and even higher, 

Rang out their requiem wild ; 
And the sad sisters wondered 
When the little dead nun smiled. 



[73] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



LOVE'S SILENCES 

nr^HERE are great silences in a great love, 
•*• And fools are they who vainly strive to 
reach 
Those shining shores beyond the verge of 
speech, 
Where none should fare — not even the 

white dove 
That hides forever in true lovers' souls, 
And blesses them with stillness. There 

are deeps 
That none should desecrate ; jealous, Love 
keeps 
Sure watch when passion's ocean round her 
rolls. 

np^HESE calms are Love's hid meaning; they 
"^ contain 

The covenant and gospel of Love's years. 
The very Bread of beauty and the 
Wine. 

_ 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



LOVE'S SILENCES (continued) 

O never dream to enter that dim fane, 
Flooded with knowledge and Love's aw- 
ful tears, 
But bow before the hush that is divine. 



[75l 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



OLD JOHNNY VALENTINE 
(For A. E. Thomas) 

T\yrY friend had died — old Johnny Valentine, 
-*'▼-■' Who loved to laugh, and waited for my 

jokes 
Each Summer when I went to Gloucester. 

We 
Would sit in his small cabin on the coast. 
Watching the blue sea and the blowing 

sails, 
And in the night the silver stars and moon. 
Then I would tell him, with our pipes and 

ale, 
The little jests he loved — the city rhymes 
That tickled him until he laughed — and 

cried. 

/^LD Johnny died last Spring. It was in May 
^^^ When the world woke with apple-blossoms 
white, 
And the grass whispered at his c^bin door. 

[Tel 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

OLD JOHNNY VALENTINE (continued) 

Of course I went up to his funeral : 
I wanted one last glimpse of that good face, 
Brown, even in death — those weather- 
beaten cheeks. 

A ND after we had laid him in the ground 

Under a tree that grew outside his gate, 
I thought of all his laughter meant to me — 
That choking laughter, gay and innocent. 
Innocent as a child's. And then I thought 
Of the new jests that he had never heard. 
The bright collection for the coming June, 
The " city harvest," as he called them; all 
The limericks that grew along Broadway. 

IIJE would have loved them, was my natural 

^^ thought; 

And so I told them to the neighborhood — 
His cronies and companions; the small 

crowd 
That loved him almost as I loved him. Yes, 
I dared to make them laugh, because I knew 
He would have liked to know that even now 

[77] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



OLD JOHNNY VALENTINE (continued) 

Humor and wit were dancing through the 

world. 
And as I told my jokes, I thought I heard 
The apple-blossoms shake in a light wind — 
Or was it Johnny Valentine who laughed? 



[78] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE QUARREL 

TN a house behind me in the crowded city 
-■■ I heard a man and woman quarreling. 
He called her shocking names, and she replied 
With bitter expletives that I forget. 
I only know I never dreamed such words 
Could fall from human lips, as high and higher 
Their angry voices rose in sudden wrath. 
And then I heard a blow — a sounding fist — 
And shuddered at the silence following, 
A silence far more terrible than the storm. 
Heads leaned from windows; all the neigh- 
borhood 
Wondered, as I had wondered, what it meant. 



N 



EXT day I saw the young wife in the yard, 
Hanging out linen — shirts and handker- 
chiefs. 

And then brown socks and heavy under- 
clothes. 

[79I 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

THE QUARREL (continued) 

Upon one cheek she bore a purple mark, 
And I had never thought to see a face 
So tragic in a woman as young as she. 
And in a moment the brawny husband came 
With a white empty crib and cans of paint ; 
And while the woman pinned the clothing 

up, 
He set to work with brushes for an hour. 
And every little while she spoke to him: 
" It's going to look real nice, Sam." 

" Yes," said he. 
Or, " After that, suppose you fetch some 

coal — 
I think the fire needs it." "All right, 

Kate. ... • 

Let's have a steak for supper." " Sure we 

will." 
And presently, when she was going in, 
I saw her put her hand upon his shoulder, 
And he looked up and smiled. 

I turned away. 
And marveled at this life, but most of all 
At love, and the strange riddle of the world. 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



ART 

A RT is a flaming mistress, 
'^ ^ Jealous, proud and elate; 
Deep in her heart is heaven, 
Deep in her mind is hate. 



"^TEVER, never forsake her! 

The ways of her love, who knows? 
Today, she is thine forever; 
Tomorrow, forever she goes. 



]^JOT hers the tragic ending — 
To nobler loves she fares, 
Nor turns for a last swift parting, 
Remembers not, nor cares. 



[8i] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE QUIET YEARS 

'HE days run by on golden feet, 

The old rain falls, the old wind blows. 

And every June our spirits greet 
Red repetitions of the rose. 



' I ''HE ancient trees — how wise are they! 
And tides and sunsets, stars and grass; 
Ah ! friends and loves may pass away. 
But these true friends, they never pass. 



T 



HEY come again ; they do not fail. 
The Summer glory. Autumn tears; 

The punctual moon, whose face is pale 
How kind are all the quiet years! 



[82] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



TO A CERTAIN LITTLE BOY 

(Alexander Neil Smith) 

With a Silver Cup, on the Day of His 

Christening 



w 



HEN you are really quite grown up, 

Too big to drain this little cup, 

I hope the gods are kind, my boy, 

And fill Life's cup with magic joy. 

I pray that from a golden bowl 

You may drink wisdom for your soul, 

And in the chalice of the years 

Find much of peace, and less of tears; 

Find knowledge, beauty, faith, and love. 

And every blessing from above ; 

But most of all, in goodly share. 

Yourself pour Human Kindness there. 



[83] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



A SONG WHILE LOVING 

'HOU who hast been as starlight in my dark- 
ness, 

Sun after blinding rain, peace after war ; 
Thou who hast been, through the long 
ages, 
All I have waited for; 
Now, in the noon of our rapture, 
Thee I adore. 

'T^HEE I adore! Since it is through thee I 
hearken 
To a new song in the winds that shake 
the trees; 
Through thee I speak a new language. 

Suffer new ecstasies; 
Yea, and through thee drain Life's golden 
goblet 
Unto the lees. 



[84] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

A SONG WHILE LOVING (continued) 

HIS is the sum of my joy: that I hold you, 
Fold you at last, and in the midst of my 
pride. 
Say, " It is she who is with me 

Here, close, close at my side ! " 
Love, it is something to know when one's 
hour 
Is glorified! 

TpO know, and to speak of the glory! To 
shout it 
Under the blue of high heaven, and say, 
" This is our moment, this is a love that is 
perfect ; 
At last, at last we have found the way ! 
Would we could show it to those still 
blinded. . . . 
Love, let us pray ! " 



[85] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



I 



ONE OF THE PREDESTINED 

READ it in your face 

That you will leave us, young; 
You will go from this place 

Before your song is sung. 



H 



O 



OW avidly you take 

Life's cup, and drink its wine, 
Ere it shall fall and break, 

Revealing Death's dark sign. 

STRANGE and troubled eyes, 
Within those depths I see 

Immortal mysteries. 
Hints of Eternity. 

OU are to pass so soon, 

Fragile as a bright flower. . . . 
How sweet to be the moon. 

If only for an hour! 

f86] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



TAKE THOU THE ROSE 

TAKE thou the rose with all its beauty red, 
Nor strive the secret of its flame to guess; 
Pluck not one petal, lest the dream be fled, 
Vanished the loveliness. 

TAKE the one Love with all its rapture; yea. 
With all its ruin and sorrow. Love is 
sweet ; 
Seek not its fault, lest on some awful day 
Love crumble at thy feet. 



[87] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



I 



RETREAT 
(For F. Walter Taylor) 

KNOW a bookshop in a quiet street 
Close to the flame and thunder of Broadway, 
A little heaven, a refuge and retreat 

From the loud murmur of the staring day. 



T 



HERE, in the hush, with voices of the past 
Singing far songs — Wordsworth and 
Keats and Poe — 

Often I linger, dipping in the last 
Bright volume, or some ancient folio. 

^HE world goes by; haply is lost — well lost, 
But old worlds rise before me in this 
place. 
And in some shining book, by Love em- 
bossed, 
I read the record of a nobler race. 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



RETREAT (continued) 



I 



I 



I 



READ of pomp and chivalry and pride, 

Or the light laughter of a quiet age ; 
I dwell in moonlight on a distant tide, 

What time I thumb and turn some yellow 
page. 

HEAR the rustle of imperial lace, 
I dream of glory and strong, fighting 
men. . . . 
The lamps expire, and in the chimney-place 
The last red embers bum, go out; and then 

FIND myself one of the evening crowd. 
Facing the world that thrills me as before. 
But O that moment when they spoke aloud — 
Shakespeare and Dante — through Death's 
hidden door ! 



[89] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE PRISON 

T WENT through a crowded city 
''■ A city within my own — 
Whose houses were of iron 
And terrible grey stone. 



I 



SAW each awful doorway 
With clanging lock and key, 
And faces white behind them, 
Most pitiful to me. 

HERE was a patient silence 
Within this town of tears, 

That told me more than lips could 
Of long, bleak, maddening years. 



T 



HAT silence — and those faces ! 

They haunt me all the while ; 
Yet why should dead men whisper, 

And why should dead men smile? 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



RACING WITH THE RAIN 

WE were rushing through the valley, and my 
friend was at the wheel ; 
The highway lay before us like a rod of 

burnished steel. 
There was dust upon our motor, there was 

dust before our eyes, 
But the live thing sped like magic under- 
neath the Summer skies. 

f^F a sudden came a turning, and we heard a 
^^ distant drum. 

" It is thunder! " cried my comrade. " And 

the storm will quickly come.'* 
At his words I looked behind us — yes, 

black clouds were scurrying on. 
**Now for speed!" I told my comrade. 
" It's five miles to Avalon! " 



[91] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



RACING WITH THE RAIN (continued) 

npHERE'S a flowing road to Newbright that 
-*• is like a silver snake ; 

It's the kind of road that every reckless racer 

loves to take. 
Now it lay white in the distance for a good 

three miles or more, 
And beside it was a deep stretch of the 
curved Atlantic shore. 



/^N my hand there fell a raindrop like a signal 
from on high ; 

Black and blacker sped the storm-clouds in 
the wide tempestuous sky. 

Close behind us now that army of the pur- 
ple hosts of rain, 

And above us, marching, marching, with a 
thundering refrain. 



TUST a touch upon a tiny bit of metal, and we 
^ whirled 

Swifter than the swiftest eagle flying high 
above the world. 



[92] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



RACING WITH THE RAIN (continued) 

Swift as water down Niagara, plunging madly 

through the air, 
On, and on we raced; the lightning flashed 

around us everywhere. 



R 



ANKS of blue rain surged behind us. 

Would they drench us, would they come 
Like a sudden bright battalion filled with 

war's delirium? 
Would their gleaming swords surround us, 

cleave our cheeks, or goad us on 
Faster, faster, on that flowing road that led 

to Avalon? 



N 



OW the earth was dark around us, but we 
had no need of lamps. 

For the lightning blazed before us, search- 
lights from celestial camps. 

Far ahead we saw the roadway like a shin- 
ing, endless track. 

And we heard that army breathing, breath- 
ing closer at our back. 

[93I 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



RACING WITH THE RAIN (continued) 



w 



HO would mind a healthy drenching? 
Surely not my friend and I ! 

Let the torrents pour upon us — we could 
still be warm and dry ! 

But the race was for the glory and the tri- 
umph we would feel 

If we beat our blue pursuers — beat them 
with a bit of steel! 



>RIDE of conquest, zest of winning, tang of 

mad achievement — these 
Were the laurel we would gather, and the 

crown that we would seize! 
Naught but victory did we dream of, effort 

wearing her bright bays; 
Our reward the joy of striving, and no man's 

indulgent praise ! 

EE! the spires of home before us! Ah! the 

roofs of Avalon! 
But the jealous rain behind us, now it pressed 

more madly on! 

[94I 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

RACING WITH THE RAIN (continued) 

Furious at our seeming triumph, swift it sent 

its first brigades 
On the wind to touch our shoulders with their 

glowing silver blades. 

"OUT we reached the village court-house, and 
'^ our haven lay ahead, 

Underneath the arching elm-trees that were 

hospitably spread 
Like a monstrous, thick umbrella far along 

the avenue ; 
Dauntless followed those battalions, shining 
ranks and ranks of blue. 

QTILL the dust was on our motor, still the 
^ dust before us lay. 

When, out from the drooping elm-trees we 

were on the roofless way. 
Ah! the open door before us! One mad 

plunge, our glad disdain — 
Safe at last! For we had beaten those mad 
regiments of rain! 



[95] 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 



THE VICTORS 

'TpHEY have triumphed who have died; 
-*■ They have passed the porches wide, 
Leading from the House of Night 
To the splendid lawns of light. 
They have gone on that far road 
Leading to their new abode, 
And from curtained casements we 
Watch their going wistfully. 

A H ! that turn, that glimpse ! That last 
^ Wondering where their feet have passed ! 
They have read new meanings, they 
Who have found the open way. 
Now they know that hill and glen 
Far beyond our mortal ken. 
And they know why Winter turns 
Into April; why Youth burns 
With its dreams that go to rust, 
Why men falter, and yet trust ; 



TODAY AND TOMORROW 

THE VICTORS (continued) 

Why the Autumn grieves and sighs 
Underneath the brooding skies ; 
Why the grass, with punctual feet, 
Comes in Spring our eyes to greet. 
And white dawn succeeds white dawn. 
And the moon shines on and on. 



T 



HEY have left our House of Night, 

Faring to the bournes of light. 
Grieve not for them ; rather, say, 
" They are victors on the way ; 
They have won, for they have read 
The bright secrets of the dead ; 
And they gain the deep unknown. 
Hearing Life's strange undertone. 
In the race across the days 
They are victors ; theirs the praise, 
Theirs the glory and the pride — 
They have triumphed, having died ! * 

THE END 



[97] 



